“I had some really great scenes with Paul not too long ago, like last week,” Ian told the site about shooting for Season 6, totally not revealing why our first look at Damon this season was a bloody mess. “You definitely get to see some great stuff with those boys. It’s good when they’re not at one another’s throats.”

Yes, Ian, we’re glad that Damon and Stefan are finally getting some much-needed brother bonding — their relationship has always been notoriously rocky. But the real story here is that EW goes as far as clarifying that Damon and Stefan’s scenes are different than Elena Gilbert’s (Nina Dobrev) witchy drug hallucinations we saw in the Season 6 trailer.

We already know that Stefan “isn’t anywhere near Mystic Falls” — probably because there’s that whole Travelers spell that’s keeping all supernatural and magical beings (including vampires) beyond its city limits — but unless he’s joining Elena in her drug trips, Damon might be making his way back to the land of the living sooner rather than later.

Do you think Damon is brought back in the first few episodes? How is he connecting with Stefan? Hit the comments and start speculating!

Season 6 of The Vampire Diaries premieres Thursday, October 2, at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.